java.math.BigDecimal comparison: the same value represented in different formats don't match

Question

The following code:

 BigDecimal a = new BigDecimal("8900");
 BigDecimal b = new BigDecimal("8.9E+3");

 System.out.println(a.equals(b));

prints false. Why is so, if mathematically those numbers are equal?

Answer 1

You have to use compareTo():

BigDecimal a = new BigDecimal("8900");
BigDecimal b = new BigDecimal("8.9E+3");

System.out.println(a.compareTo(b) == 0);